Microsoft made a bad first impression with the Xbox in Japan. It's hard to shake that off with consumers, unless you really hit it out of the park. The 360 was doing well when Microsoft was securing those RPG exclusives, but then it fell off once they stopped putting in the effort. It wasn't ever really lighting up charts, but it had a nice hardcore following. Japan went all in on the Wii early on (like everyone else), and then moved to the PS3 once the Slim released and Wii games became sparse. The lesson to be learned there is that you need a constant level of games for people to play and look forward to.
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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.